By Sadie Jackson, Kylie Barony and Jennah Meek
This year, Honors English 9 classes put together an assembly for Meisel. For instance the class took 6 class periods researching, creating and rehearsing the assembly. The made a slide show about the music that was appropriate to listen to during the Holocaust, and who the appropriate writers were. Ludwig Van Beethoven, Richard Wagner, and Antoine Bruckner were all writers Hitler considered to be acceptable. The students wrote up a script and each student took a turn reading a certain section aloud. They then asked Meisel questions which she answered in front of the audience.
The week before Wednesday, November 2, 2011 the ninth grade classes of Tyrone Area High School (TAHS) watched the documentary Tak for Alt, which is Danish for “Thanks for everything.”
Meisel was only 12 years old when the Holocaust began, it ended about four years later. Meisel is a Holocaust survivor; she travels to schools around the United States to tell her story.
Even though Meisel endured many hardships during the Holocaust she doesn’t resent all Germans.
“I hate hate… you can’t live with hate,” Meisel explained.
The Jewish community flourished before World War II. She was part of a large extended family were 146 of them were killed during the holocaust. At the age of twelve Judy and her family were forced into the Kovna ghetto. She was there until she was 15.
“When I thought my life was bad, she made me reconsider.” Honors 9 Miranda Hunt stated.
Later Meisel moved to the Stutthof concentration camp where she and her sister escaped a death march; after escaping Meisel traveled to Denmark where a Danish family nursed her back to health.
She moved to Canada in 1949 and then later to the United States. Eventually she settled into Philadelphia in 1954. Judy raised three children and attended Temple University. While attending there she got her degree in early childhood education in 1967.
Judy began defending the rights of others in 1963. She has committed herself to speak out against hate for over 40 years. She travels all throughout the United States talking about her “No Room for Hate”
Judy Meisel and her story were in the book Escape: Children of the Holocaust by, Allan Zullo. It was published in 2009 by Scholastic to honor her tragic and inspiring story. Escape is also available in the high school library.
“I thought she [Meisel] was an incredibly inspiring woman. Her presentation and message was amazing.” Mark Lewis, Honors English student said.
TAHS thanks The Greater Altoona Jewish Federation founded by Bill Walker for providing background information on Meisel and organizing her to come to Tyrone. Also thank the teachers and the staff for allowing students to experience something like this.
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